A blog (short for weblog)
is a frequently updated website that often resembles an online journal. It's so
easy to create and update a blog - it requires only basic access to the
Internet, and a minimum of technical know-how. Because of this, it is one of
the easiest ways to publish student writing on the WWW.
Nowadays, blogs can also
display photos and some people are using them with audio and even video, but
this article will concentrate on the basics, showing how a simple text-based
blog can be used to great effect with the English language learners.
According to Huffaker
(2005), the role of weblogs in promoting literacy in classroom settings.
Literacy remains paramount in learning, not only for language development, but
also as the foundation of all academic disciplines including science and
mathematics. Storytelling ignites literacy and remains an important part of
life from childhood through adulthood. Weblogs resemble personal journals or
diaries and provide an online venue where self-expression and creativity is
encouraged and online communities are built. Therefore weblogs provide an
excellent tool where storytelling and literacy advance for both individual
expressions and collaborative learning. Furthermore, weblogs can be used across
academic disciplines, making it a viable tool for educational technologists.
Blogs
can promote open dialogue and encourage bloggers and comment-givers to exchange
their opinions. Teacher can let students set up their own blogs for several
subjects and then assign tasks to them. Teachers can create a specific
section just for website links and references to other interesting content
online.
Teacher can use blogs for classroom projects where students
can include videos, clips, audio, text and images which can make lessons more
interesting. Teacher easily can use activities, games, puzzles to
enrich students learning experiences. Teacher can also encourage students to
post their views, personal experiences on language learning, make interactions
and post their comments on each others postings.
Teacher
should provide his/her own blog as a communicative tool for all students.
Teacher should publish a list of objectives with general goals, should post interesting
things daily on blog and give relevant feedback, and it will be helpful and
motivational for students to keep their attention towards class and also online
activities.
There
are several free blogging platforms for teachers and students:
The world's most popular educational blogging service, Edublogs
lets easily create and manage student and teacher blogs, quickly customize and
include videos.
This is a free weblog publishing tool from Google, for sharing
text, photos and video.
This is another great
blogging platform for students and teachers and very easy to use and
completely free.
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